Konica series round five, Winton preview

Round five of the 2003 Konica V8 Supercar Series heads to Winton Motor
Raceway this weekend in what could possibly wrap up the 2003 Championship
for Stone Brothers Racing's Mark Winterbottom.
With a possible 64 points on offer in each of the...

Round five of the 2003 Konica V8 Supercar Series heads to Winton Motor
Raceway this weekend in what could possibly wrap up the 2003 Championship
for Stone Brothers Racing's Mark Winterbottom.

With a possible 64 points on offer in each of the three races, Winterbottom
only has to secure 177 of the 192 points in total to guarantee him the
Championship ahead of nearest competitor Gulf Western Oil's Matthew White
and third placed Hydraulink Racing's Mark Porter.

If not, the competition will definitely go down to the wire for the sixth
and final round at Mallala Motorsport Park on August 30-31. Given the
current points system and the implementation of dropping the worst round, it
may be anyone's championship if it is not decided this weekend.

Winterbottom is going into the event with the aim of taking out yet another
round win but isn't focusing primarily on taking out the Championship just
yet.

"I am not going to think about the championship at this stage," Winterbottom
said. "If it was to come about this weekend that would be fantastic, but my
mind is set on just doing the best job possible at this circuit."

A number of other competitors will be looking to perform well this weekend
and resurrect themselves on the Championship points table.

One of those is Brad Jones Racing's Andrew Jones who is currently sitting in
fifteenth position after missing the third round at Eastern Creek earlier
this year.

Jones was travelling well at the last Konica V8 Supercar round at Phillip
Island, claiming pole position for the third and final race before he
encountered a broken rear axle in the warm up lap.

The Albury-based driver will return to his home track at Winton this weekend
looking to put himself in a competitive position for the final round of the
2003 series at the end of August.

Another driver who will be looking to continue his good fortune after
claiming his first podium position of the year at Phillip Island is Century
Batteries/Greenfield Mowers Racing's Brett Peters.

After consistent performances all season, Peters secured third place on the
podium and is now sitting fourth in the championship heading into this
weekend.

"We will be looking to keep performing well going into this weekend's
event," Peters said. "We have got to our current position through
consistency and hopefully we will be able to remain consistent for the
remainder of the series.

"We planned for a top six position at the start of the year and are
absolutely delighted with our current fourth place. Hopefully we can bring
in the points again this weekend and stay in our current position going into
the final round."

Another record-breaking number of cars will line up on the grid this
Saturday for Practice and Qualifying. The 34 cars entered in the
championship reiterating why the Konica V8 Supercar Series is fast becoming
one of Australia's most popular motorsport categories.